Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

03 May 2009 20:51

tags

U.S.: Good God, John Edwards sure fell from grace fast!

  • The affair Edwards, a former senator and veep candidate with John Kerry in 2004 who ran presidential primary campaigns in both 2004 and 2008, saw his political career quickly fall apart after news of an affair with Rielle Hunter broke last year. source
  • The affair Edwards, a former senator and veep candidate with John Kerry in 2004 who ran presidential primary campaigns in both 2004 and 2008, saw his political career quickly fall apart after news of an affair with Rielle Hunter broke last year.
  • The probe Edwards is now facing a federal investigation due to Hunter’s ties to organizations which his 2008 campaign gave significant funds to. Which means that his dirty laundry could possibly play out in a public courtroom. O_o source
  • The affair Edwards, a former senator and veep candidate with John Kerry in 2004 who ran presidential primary campaigns in both 2004 and 2008, saw his political career quickly fall apart after news of an affair with Rielle Hunter broke last year.
  • The probe Edwards is now facing a federal investigation due to Hunter’s ties to organizations which his 2008 campaign gave significant funds to. Which means that his dirty laundry could possibly play out in a public courtroom. O_o
  • The tell-all If all of this wasn’t bad enough for a guy who was almost vice president, his wife, Elizabeth, is about to release a book that airs that same dirty laundry – she admits to vomiting when finding out about the affair. O_O source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 May 2009 11:30

tags

U.S., World: Terrorists’ technology of choice, post-9/11: Hotmail

  • Ali al-Marri, in a guilty-plea agreement last week, admitted in court that al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed planned to use common tools to plot terrorist attacks in the U.S. source
  • Beyond Hotmail, the easily-available tools that al-Qaeda used included prepaid calling cards, public phones, computer search engines, and simplistic codes used to cover their tracks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 May 2009 11:19

tags

U.S.: Obama’s election has helped thaw race relations even more

  • I’ve been working downtown for 30 years, so I’ve got a good feeling for it. Since President Obama started campaigning, if I go almost anywhere, it’s: ‘Hi! Hello, how are you, sir?’ I’m talking about strangers. Calling me ‘sir.’
  • Milwaukee resident Samuel Sallis • On the change in people’s treatment of him since Obama started running for president. Sallis isn’t alone. Nearly two-thirds of Americans think race relations are improving in this country, with double the number of blacks agreeing with that statement than previously. Despite fears that Obama’s election would build energy towards extremist anti-black sentiment (with white supremacist groups using it as a recruitment tool), the change has been largely positive so far. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 May 2009 10:12

tags

U.S.: Five fast facts about Jack Kemp, 1935-2009

  • His football success was unlikely: He was a late-round pick by Detroit and a journeyman QB for years. source
  • The Buffalo Bills, the team with which he had MVP-level success, picked him up on a $100 waiver. source
  • Kemp got into the political game very soon after retiring from football in 1969, getting elected in 1970. source
  • The popular nine-term Republican congressman eventually had a failed presidential bid in 1988. source
  • He’s best-known, however, for being Bob Dole’s veep choice in his failed 1996 presidential run. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 May 2009 09:41

tags

U.S., World: Pigs infected with H1N1: It’s like an infinite loop of swine flu

  • The Alberta farmer recently left Mexico. Canadian officials are quarantining a bunch of pigs testing positive for swine flu after a farmer apparently gave H1N1 to them. In case you’re wondering, this does not make eating pork dangerous. If they have swine flu, it will not get you sick. So don’t freak out. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 May 2009 09:25

tags

U.S.: Arlen Specter was not feeling Republican love in Pennsylvania

  • 29% of Pennsylvania Republicans had a favorable opinion of Specter after the stimulus vote source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 May 2009 12:42

tags

U.S.: Justice David Souter’s former clerks have nice things to say

  • Although he’s someone who doesn’t like to spend a lot of time out in high society, he is a really warm and engaging person, and in fact quite a talented story teller and sort of off-the-cuff speaker.
  • Meir Feder • One of Souter’s former clerks in 1990, on her former boss, who was famously not into high society. Obama plans to replace Souter on the court with a similarly independent-minded thinker. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

02 May 2009 12:35

tags

Biz, U.S.: Renters in foreclosed homes get screwed, too

  • 30% of homes foreclosed this year are being rented out source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 May 2009 11:26

tags

Sports, U.S.: The Bowl Championship Series is serious politics. Seriously.

  • BCS or BS? Yesterday, representatives for NCAA college football went to congress to argue their reasons for keeping the Bowl Championship Series the bizarre non-playoff-based entity it currently is. BCS coordinator John Swofford claims that changing the format to a playoff would threaten to kill the bowls as well as their sponsorships and TV revenue. source
  • BCS or BS? Yesterday, representatives for NCAA college football went to congress to argue their reasons for keeping the Bowl Championship Series the bizarre non-playoff-based entity it currently is. BCS coordinator John Swofford claims that changing the format to a playoff would threaten to kill the bowls as well as their sponsorships and TV revenue.
  • Barton’s bill Rep. Joe Barton of Texas apparently has had enough, specifically, as he’s introduced a bill which would prevent the NCAA from labeling something a national championship if it wasn’t the result of a playoff. Because this is clearly the biggest problem facing our country right now. (On a side note, Obama favors a playoff.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 May 2009 10:48

tags

Biz, U.S.: Warren Buffett hasn’t seen the economic revcovery yet

  • There’s no signs of any real bounce at all in anything to do with housing, retailing, all that sort of thing. You never know for sure, even if there’s a leveling off, which way the next move will be.
  • Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett • On the housing market’s lack of improvement since the recession took hold. Berkshire Hathaway, by the way, has suffered pretty heavily, too in the wake of the economic meltdown. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>